Rick Mendes

Rick Mendes writes crime and thriller fiction full-time now, and it shows in how each book pushes at something specific: what people do under pressure, and where the line between good and evil actually sits.

He launched the Alma Rossi series with The Chameleon Killer, following Homicide Detective Alma Rossi of the Hillsford Police Department. Rick grew up on crime novels, suspense films, and detective shows, and the series digs into justice, morality, and obsession with the way those stories always have. The second book, The White Iris Murders, is in production now, with an unofficial release date in early January 2027.

After the third Alma Rossi novel, Rick plans to start a heist series featuring Robbery Detective Gino Verga, also of Hillsford PD. Verga and Rossi have a cordial relationship on the force, and the two series will eventually cross paths.

His first novel, Growing Future Operators, came out of thirty-five years working in tech. It follows public and Catholic schools racing to be the first to teach DevOps to kids, drawing on Rick's background in software engineering, systems engineering, and cybersecurity. Writing it is what turned Rick into a storyteller.